Experimental Study on the Compressive Behaviors of Traditional Tibetan Three-Leaf Walls

ABSTRACT

Three-leaf stone masonry constitutes a widespread construction typology in historical buildings, but limited reports can be found on its mechanical behaviors. This study intended to understand better the compressive behaviors of traditional Tibetan three-leaf walls (TTTLWs) constructed from stones and mud mortar by a series of laboratory experiments on the constituent materials as well as the masonry prisms and walls. The physical properties of the TTTLWs, e.g. the elastic modulus, crack strength, compressive strength, and damage evolution were investigated. A three-dimensional numerical micro model, validated by the experimental results, was proposed to discuss the compressive behavior of the walls. TTTLWs may be concluded to have medium compressive strength, low elastic modulus compared with other types of three-leaf walls. Large separation between the leaves was observed during the test, and the consequent second-order effect caused the reduction of the compressive performance. The key stones provided a transversal connection between wall leaves, resulting in a limited positive influence on the compressive strength of walls.

KEYWORDS:

• Compressive behavior
• failure mode
• mud mortar
• stone masonry
• Three-leaf wall
• Tibetan historical building

Acknowledgments

The comments from Prof. S.S. Law and his help in polishing the English usage of this paper are also acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study presented in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (General Program, No. 51778045) and 111 project of the Ministry of Education and the Bureau of Foreign Experts of China (No. B13002).